00:00Pray that the Spirit of God would touch their hearts to let go of any past pain caused by your
00:05words.
00:05And if an opportunity comes and you do have an encounter with the person,
00:11do your best to take that step of reconciliation.
00:14Whether the person receives it or resists it is not your responsibility,
00:19but your responsibility is to offer it.
00:30Grace and peace to you all, Brother Chris and God's Heart TV family.
00:34My name is Tepisto and I'm from Botswana.
00:38Firstly, I would like to thank you for this message because I resonate personally with it.
00:43I tend to have trouble holding my emotions and I know that my words have hurt people in the past,
00:52currently.
00:53And as you were giving the sermon, I was repenting in every word that you were saying.
01:00So what I want to ask is, on thinking back on what my words have done to other people,
01:09I resonated so much with what you said when you said, our words plant a seed in someone's heart.
01:16And because of what you said, you might forget, you might repent,
01:21but the next person will be watering it in their heart.
01:25And you did say that we should reconcile.
01:28But what happens if I can't go back to the past, like I've lost connections with those people.
01:33How then do I know that if I pray and ask for forgiveness, they have truly forgiven me,
01:40that that seed of hurt that I planted in their heart, I can have rooted somehow
01:45because I've come to a place of repentance.
01:49How can I do that?
01:51Or how do I know that that seed has been uprooted?
01:56Okay.
01:57Thank you very much, sister, for being open and sharing that.
02:01And it's a very, very good question.
02:02What do I do if I have lost contact with someone?
02:06Repentance is about forgiveness from God.
02:09Reconciliation is about restoration of relationship with a person.
02:13Now, the key thing is spiritual.
02:16So, forgiveness from God is the most important thing to get your heart right with your creator.
02:24Out of the overflow of a love for God, that reflects in our love for others.
02:30So, God first, then to people.
02:33But because we are not in control of people's hearts, you know, God's forgiveness is given freely.
02:41But the forgiveness of someone else is a gift they have to give you.
02:47You can't force them to give it to you.
02:50So, the bigger picture here is that you get right with God and you do your best to reconcile.
02:57If someone is not ready for reconciliation, it's not your responsibility to force them.
03:03And you should not condemn yourself by their response.
03:06Because, ultimately, every one of us has to walk the journey of faith individually.
03:13You know, salvation is personal.
03:15That's why I said in a Christian home, you know, when you talk about a Christian relationship,
03:19I believe that hallmark of forgiveness means that we can settle issues and forgiveness can be given freely to each
03:28other.
03:29But, perhaps, you had an encounter with someone who is not a believer and you may go to them and
03:34say,
03:35I want to say I'm sorry for my words.
03:37And they may say, I refuse your apology.
03:39I'm not ready to accept it.
03:42Should you now go back and condemn yourself and then begin to revisit your past and fall into that trap
03:50of guilt and condemnation because of the person's response?
03:53No.
03:53You have done what is right.
03:56And we go back to the same principle.
03:59You may say, I'm sorry to the person, and they don't receive it at that moment, but still in their
04:05hearts.
04:06You don't know what can be happening through that word of I'm sorry or word of restoration or reconciliation.
04:14If you have completely lost contact with the person, you don't know where the person is.
04:19My sister, we have to leave it for God.
04:22Make sure you get your heart right with God.
04:25Get your heart right with God and you can pray for that person.
04:28Pray.
04:29Pray that the Spirit of God would touch their hearts to let go of any past pain caused by your
04:34words.
04:35And if an opportunity comes and you do have an encounter with the person, do your best to take that
04:41step of reconciliation.
04:43Whether the person receives it or resists it is not your responsibility, but your responsibility is to offer it.
04:56We tend to realize too late down the road when immorality has already, or let's say lust has already occupied
05:10a place in our hearts.
05:12We tend to realize too late down the road.
05:25We tend to realize that the person is not your responsibility, but the person is a good person.
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